City of Lawrenceville offers award-winning events and celebrations in the beautiful DTL

BY BETH SLAUGHTER SEXTON STAFF CORRESPONDENT

With a success story envied by every Georgia town, the City of Lawrenceville keeps pushing forward creating more to see and do in Gwinnett’s county seat. Downtown Lawrenceville, also known as The DTL has undergone a $500 million renovation over the past five years, including public-private partnerships. Flourishing with more businesses, visitors, residents and events, the once-sleepy town square is now wide awake with shops and restaurants up and down its streets and an ever-growing vibrant nightlife.

To say the city calendar is filled with events and celebrations is not just a PR phrase. It is actually filled with everything from concerts and plays to outdoor movies, festivals and almost daily offerings. In fact, the efforts of those who plan events for the City of Lawrenceville were recently recognized in a prestigious competition. At the Southeastern Festival & Events Association awards ceremony, the City of Lawrenceville and its events team won half a dozen awards. The city won bronze awards for Best New Event, CULTURA; Best Children’s Event, Free Comic Book Day and the award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Around the World in the DTL. The city won silver for Best Event Under $75,000, CULTURA. The City of Lawrenceville won two prestigious gold awards in the competition, including Best Marketing Concept, Free Comic Book Day and Best Program, Around the World in the DTL. Members of the City of Lawrenceville Events Team include Jasmine Billings, community development manager; Milo Sather, coordinator; Lindsey Curnow, event coordinator and Alaina Tullis, marketing and communications coordinator.

The City of Lawrenceville welcomes back DTL Happenings, the free pop-up event series offering a variety of experiences from yoga classes to pop-up movies. Free Comic Book Day is May 6, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The city again hosts LIVE in the DTL, the free summer concert series on the Lawrenceville Lawn. The Juneteenth Celebration Concert also returns this summer, as do free Feature Friday and Pop-up Movies. Prelude to the Fourth is June 30, from 5-10 p.m., complete with a spectacular fireworks show.

Fall events include Around the World in the DTL Sept. 22 and 23; CULTURA: Fiesta Latina Oct. 13, and BOO Fest on Oct. 27. Harvest Festival is Nov. 4. The year ends with Santa and more with the return of the Hometown Holiday Parade Dec. 2. For a complete listing, visit https://www.downtownlawrencevillega.com.

In addition, residents and visitors can now view upcoming events, check out where to shop, dine and find public parking all while roaming around the square. With its new downtown digital signs, the city presents such information on one side of the sign while the other side features digital works of art created by local artists and students. The City of Lawrenceville has partnered with the Hudgens Center for Art & Learning to display a collection of works by students from the smART Honors Program, which provides opportunities for students who cannot afford private art lessons. Teachers from Norcross, Discovery, Peachtree Ridge, Brookwood, Lanier and Phoenix high schools select students who show artistic talent and whose work is then displayed on the five digital kiosks situated around the square.

The city also partners with the Hudgens Center as it installs works from its permanent collection inside City Hall on a rotating basis. Works are on the lower, main and third levels and residents and visitors are invited to view the artworks on display at City Hall, located at 70 S. Clayton Street.

Works currently on the main level include paintings by Elinor Dixon and Burt Hassen. City Hall has previously displayed photo-screenprints from artist Ben Shahn and portraits from photographer Richard Calmes. The lower level features black and white landscape photographs from the Georgia Nature Photographers Association. The third level displays physical works from the Hudgens Center’s smART Honors Program, the same works shown on the digital signs around the square. From June 14 through July 4, the community can visit City Hall to see artworks themed around the American Flag as part of the DTL Happening event series.